Ever since the introduction of television, television viewers have been frustrated by the lack of mobility afforded to television receivers. Television receivers have traditionally been large, bulky devices that could not be easily repositioned. This has forced the viewer to adapt her own physical position to conform to the viewing angle most appropriate to watching the programming on the television screen.
The need to adapt the viewers' physical position relative to the television screen can be at the very least annoying but on the other extreme physically uncomfortable. Not surprisingly, various mechanisms have been developed to allow the television viewer to articulate the position of the television to suit her own comfort. Unfortunately, each mechanism thus far discovered limits the overall mobility of the television. To be of any tangible benefit in this regard, the television receiver must be agile enough to be repositioned at a whim in any direction.
Perhaps the most physically uncomfortable position is the prone position assumed while laying in bed. A novel, but elaborate over-bed television support frame has been described by Maffei in U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,158. Maffei's prior art suspends a full-size television receiver above the bed so that the television viewer can watch programming while in a fully prone position.
The need to support and articulate a television set at bedside has spawned a wide variety of television stands. A television stand suitable for bedside attachment is described by Anderson in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,159. Cobb, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,405, proffers yet another bed-side television stand.
Television receivers are also used to display data and images to doctors. In this capacity, the television receiver is referred to as a video monitor and is usually driven by computer generated video signals. Doctors confront a similar problem when performing surgery. The video monitor must be made more comfortable for the surgeon to view. In many circumstances, the surgeon must rely on the video images to guide his surgical activities; viewing comfort becomes critical to patient safety.
C. Bruce Schwartz describes in U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,897 a video endoscopic support stand. Schwarz' endoscopic support stand allows physicians to carry on their surgical duties more easily while watching a video image on a monitor. The support stand introduced by Schwartz allows the monitor to be positioned in almost any orientation relative to the doctor. This support stand clearly endeavors to conform the position of the video monitor to meet the comfort and viewing needs of the physician rather than the physician needing to contort his own person to view the image. Even as accommodating as this support stand appears to be, it still limits the vertical viewing angled of the television monitor. This support stand holds the face of the monitor orthogonal to the ground; a position that may not be suitable in all surgical circumstances. Finally, Schwarz' support stand has a limited range of motion and requires that the surgeon position himself proximate to the base upon which the stand is affixed. Similar safety and operating concerns apply to industrial displays where mechanical or electrical machinery. An operator must often control complex machinery based on feedback from a video monitor.
All of the prior art mechanisms simply fail to allow the user to fully manipulate the television receiver or video monitor. For instance, the television stand described by Ojima in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,920 allows only the vertical angle of the screen to be adjusted. Some allow the television to be rotated laterally, but do not allow the television to tilt vertically. One apparatus suspends the television at a preferred height, but fails to allow vertical tilt. Most importantly, no prior art allows the television to the oriented freely in three dimensions. In order to meet the needs of the viewer, a television must be capable of easy reorientation in all three dimensions. In short, each prior art mechanism thus far described compromises one feature at the expense of another.